Katniss' Kid
by Taylor'N'Toby
Summary: How I wish Katniss had a baby in the books, instead of right at the end. - bad summary, i know, but give it a go, yeah? thanks
1. Chapter 1

I was pregnant. I knew that, I knew it was Peeta's, I knew Peeta was missing.

He had been gone for three months, after the games which had lasted two months. Five months. This baby had been growing inside of me for five months, possibly more. I hadn't felt anything yet, but the doctor didn't know the exact date this baby was conceived, he said it was normal, but I knew it wasn't. Come on Mr. Doctor, my mother is a healer, so was prim. Primrose... she was alive then, when the baby was made. She had been...gone for five months already so something should have happened by now, yes, I was showing, yes, I had been having morning sickness _after _the games; I had been told I was too undernourished during the games to get it.

No movement. I never thought I would end up like this, winning the hunger games, being put into the quarter quell with my fiancée, being pregnant. Him being taken, me leading a rebellion, breaking my best friend's heart, being sister-less and doing everything in my power to get back a man I wasn't meant to love. Now the rebellion was over, we had won but no one knew where Peeta was yet. We were in control of panem and couldn't locate one of the most important people in the country.

They had been searching for him for the past four months. Only me and the doctor knew about the baby, I had planned on changing that when Peeta got home. _When. _

I heard the door open and looked up, Haymitch "Katniss, we have news about Peeta" he said breathlessly. I stood up, getting that fluttery feeling you get when you are nervous. He turned around and we ended up in one of the most important mocking jay rooms. There was a huge map on the wall, with a big red 'x' over district twelve. "He's in district twelve?" I asked "well why are we still here?" I said, my voice rising with every word. I scanned the rest of the room; there were pictures of him everywhere, completely alone. No traps, I would know, I had been put in front of them for the last two years. "We thought you would want to go and get him" Plutarch said. I nodded.

They suited me up and just as I was about to get onto the hovercraft, I felt sick. I stopped in my tracks "we understand if you don't want to do this" a voice said from behind me, I turned round. Gale. I sighed; he had come to see me. No, I couldn't talk to him; it would hurt both of us too much. I turned back round and walked into the hovercraft, only turning to look at him when it was too late.

It took us ten minutes to get there. Well, that's what they said; it felt like a lifetime to me. We landed in the ruins of my old home, nothing but ash and rubble now. And somewhere, Peeta. I stepped out into the gray landscape "be careful Katniss" Haymitch said, holding my arm. I turned round and scowled at him, he immediately recoiled. I looked around, searching for footprints, the amount of chaos here made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I heard a scuffling noise and headed that way, staying on the tops of the remaining buildings. Rue taught me how to do that. Rue. Death, destruction, Rue, Peeta. Children. I sighed and jumped to the next heap of bricks, continuing to do so until I was right above the noise. I looked down; he was sitting against the remains of my old apartment. I threw a rock near him, so he would look up, just to check. His head flew up, I stayed in my crouching position, carefully angling myself so the sun was behind me and he couldn't see any of my facial features. He squinted, and then put his hand on his forehead. I stood up and jumped down. Now I was standing right in front of him, this was torture, won't he say anything? His blue eyes pierced mine, unblinking. A wind picked up, blowing my hair back, he stood up and I got that fluttery feeling again. "Katniss" he whispered, something was wrong, I stepped back. He stepped forward again, pushing me up against a pile of rubble and kissed me. I was wrong, I had just forgotten what he was like, it had been so long. He started to lift up my top "no Peeta" I said, moving away. Then something happened it moved... the baby moved! I grinned, grabbed his hand and put it on my swelling stomach. His eyes lit up and his face broke into a grin. He went down on his knees "hi baby" he whispered and put his cheek on my abdomen. The baby started kicking now. Kicking! He looked up at me, tears in both of our eyes. He stood up again and wiped my cheek, took my hand and walked towards the hover craft that had landed, I hadn't even heard it.

We got back to district 13 and got rushed to the hospital, Peeta wouldn't let go of me the whole time. Insisting that when he got looked at that I needed to be checked, there could be something wrong with the baby. Everyone stopped, I looked at Peeta, he grinned stupidly "oh, sorry" I started crying, what the hell?

We had to stay in the hospital for a few hours, and then were finally let out. He took me hand and ran me to the canteen. He started to fill two plates, one slightly larger, with rich foods that I never knew this district had. He balanced the two plates in one hand and grabbed my wrist again, pulling me over to one of the many empty tables in the room. He set the plates down and turned to face me, grinning, "What?" I asked, returning his smile. He laughed and looked around the room, studying every face that was now focused on us, and then turned back to me, pressing his lips against mine. I laughed into his mouth and he sighed "I've missed you so much Katniss, you have no idea" he smiled weakly, tears forming in his eyes again. In heard a few aww's and sighs around the room as he kissed me again and we sat down to eat, I was surprised that the larger plate was for me.

That night, just before we went to sleep he asked me a question "how long have you known you were carrying our baby?" I shrugged at the same time he draped his arm over my hip and stomach, "since I got back I guess, but I sort of figured it out near the end of the games, it was what you said during the interview ticked me off, I started being as careful as I could after that, watching myself, looking for changes." I told him truthfully. He turned me over and watched me carefully "honestly? You are saying that you could have told me, that I could have protected you better, that I could have known, had something to look forward to, to fight for?" he asked me, firing questions at me from every angle "what? You weren't looking forward to seeing me? You didn't look forward to it? You don't miss me? You don't think you protected me enough? You weren't fighting for me? Wow, thanks Peeta. That's what every pregnant girl wants to hear." I yelled, grabbed the duvet and run out of the door, tears streaming down my face, he didn't care about me at all, he only wanted a baby. Not me, once the baby was born, who knows what he would do then.

I ran straight to my old apartment in district 13, stupid idea that would be the first place he would come looking for me. But that was the only other place I felt safe, not restricted…at home. I could hear him shouting me all the way there and I had only shut the door a few seconds before he was nearly banging it down with his fists. My mother came running towards me then stopped, looked at the door, me and my bump, the tears on my face and then back to the door. She motioned towards the door and I shook my head, I couldn't talk, you could hear anything through these paper thin walls. She walked over to the door, opened it and stood there. Peeta studied her face carefully then looked over at me, pleading me silently, I turned away. I wasn't forgiving him that easily.


	2. Chapter 2

"C'mon Katnip" he said, pushing past my mother. He touched my hand; I pulled back "don't call me Katnip" I said shakily "I haven't spoken to him in so long…" I said to myself, trailing off. "Katniss?" he said, holding my hand tightly, I looked at him and he gave me a watery smile. It was so hard to stay mad at him "yes?" I breathed, unsure of what he was going to say "when's our baby due?" I looked at him coldly "you know that's not what I meant to say, of course I was fighting for you, I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you" he said getting down on his knees so he could see my facial expressions. He brushed my hair out of my face "you really want to know when it's due?" I asked, focusing on the floor, out of the corner of my eye I saw him nod. I sighed "our child is due in thirty days, the doctor thinks more than that, but she also thinks it was conceived a month or so before the games, but it was two" I said, letting my shoulders drop. He stood up and smiled, hugged me tightly and asked "can we go back to our room now?" I nodded reluctantly and followed him out of the room.

When we got back I got into bed, resting my head on Peeta's chest and he had his hand on our baby. And that's how I woke up.

Peeta.

Thirty days. I was going to be a father in thirty days. Katniss and I were having a baby. That was all I'd ever wanted, but now that it was so close to becoming reality I wasn't so sure that was my dream. I started to imagine a little girl, my blonde hair, but hers had ringlets, and my blue eyes. Her amazing smile dazzling me, I could hear her voice; feel her tiny body against mine. She giggled as I tickled her, her ringlets bouncing with her shaking head. She got down and looked at me, her eyes turning cold. She turned her back on me as I saw Katniss walk over a hill that had appeared. The sky had gone grey and the blossoming tree we had been sitting under lost all of its leaves and fell down. I looked back over at Katniss, our baby still standing just in front of me.

Then Gale came over the hill.

The girl had changed, she now had black, straight hair and their grey eyes "daddy!" squealed the girl. I looked down at her, expecting her to run toward me, she ran to Gale. His eyes grew warm as he saw her; he picked her up, looking more natural with a child than anyone could possibly hope to be. She reached for Katniss and he handed the child to her, she laughed as the little girl stared playing with her hair. Gale looked into her eyes and kissed her, when the girl pouted he kissed her on the forehead too. They all smiled and looked like a perfect family, and then I heard Gale say "see, there was nothing to be worried about, kids are great. Even better when they are ours."

Then I woke up.

I immediately woke Katniss up, she was furious, saying she hadn't slept properly in weeks. I shut her up with a kiss and said "are you sure that's my baby?" she looked at me like I told her I hated her "what are you trying to say? I sleep around?" she said with an un-nerving stare "I had a dream" I explained "it was about that baby," I said pointing to her swelling stomach "but it wasn't mine. It was Gales." I said, begging that my voice wouldn't crack. She smiled warmly- that took me by surprise- then kissed me, again; surprised. "of course it's yours, you're the only one that I've been with" she said softly. I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I hugged her, she was reluctant at first but then put her arms around me, that's how we fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning I woke up, Katniss was gone.

Instantly I got up and went searching for her, her old apartment, the control room, even the training area. I eventually ended up in the hall where breakfast was being served. I grabbed a plate of whatever was on offer and sat at a table. Then I heard her magical laugh.

I looked over to the door to see her coming in with Gale, his arm around her shoulder, not quite intimate but still too close for my liking. He whispered something in her ear and she broke out into more peals of laughter. I watched them as they went over to the counter and he got two plates, one for both of them. There was more laughing as they walked over and sat at their own table. I was about to go over to them, just as Prim walked in. I heard she had died. I looked at Katniss, she hadn't noticed her yet. She started doing a little dance, wiggling her bottom whilst waving at me, I waved back and smiled. She was waiting for Katniss to notice, she finally had. The laughter stopped, tears had sprung into her eyes and her mouth was wide, Primrose laughed and went over to her, hugging her. Katniss still hadn't said a word. Katniss' mother came in tentatively, spotted me and smiled, coming to sit at my table with me. 'How is she doing? Prim wanted to see her first'

'I thought she was dead' I said, then realised how heartless it sounded, I went to make it right but her mother stopped me 'no, it's fine. We all did, then after all the panic in the capitol had subsided, we found her hiding in someone's basement with a baby in her arms, she had been protecting that baby for weeks, finding food and water and clothes. She had a few burns and injuries but over all she was ok. The hospital wanted to keep her in case she had been hijacked; she only got out this morning. The baby's mother has been located' she said, trailing off. As she spoke I watched Katniss and her sister and could tell Primrose was telling her the story. When she had finished, Katniss grabbed her hand and pressed it to her stomach, Prim's eyes went wide and she grinned, bending down to press her face against her sister's enlarged stomach. I had never seen them interact together before and it was amazing to see the bond between them now, even after we had thought Prim was dead. Primrose suddenly sat up straight and asked Katniss something, she answered and Prim smiled and pointed at me. Katniss only just noticed I was here, something flickered across her eyes, but she smiled and got up, with Prim's help and waddled over to me 'Katniss is having a baby' Prim grinned at me, whilst sliding into the chair next to me. 'I know, silly' I said, brushing hair out of her eyes and kissing the top of her head, she smelt like strawberries. '_You're _going to have a _baby_' she stated again, I laughed and nudged her arm. 'What's this I hear about you and a baby?' I asked her, smiling. She looked up at me and grinned 'well, after the bomb went off, all the surviving children ran off to wherever they went and whilst I was trying to find Katniss, I found this adorable little baby and I couldn't just let her die, could I? So I took her and found a house on the outskirts of the capitol and lived in there. I stayed in the basement in case there were peace keepers around and they would probably recognise me because of all of those interviews I had to do when you two were in the games. Luckily the house that I had chosen must've had a baby in it at some point because there were plenty of necessities and by the time they found me, I still hadn't run out! I named the baby Rue, because of the tribute from eleven, but I don't know what her real name was.' She said, taking very few breaths 'what are you going to call your baby?' she asked excitably, looking between Katniss and I. 'ah, er, well, we haven't quite got a name yet..' Katniss said, trailing off whilst looking at me, I smiled and nodded, unsure of what to say. 'I like the name River, or Rain, or Aeron, is it a girl or a boy?' she squealed, I looked at Katniss, expecting an answer, but she had none. 'well lets go find out!' Prim said, jumping up, taking both of us by the hand, then putting our hands together, then lead us to the hospital wing of District 13.


	4. Chapter 4

As soon as we got to the hospital wing, Prim ran in, requesting an ultrasound. They got it immediately; no one could ever deny little Primrose anything. We got whisked away into a room and Katniss was told to lie down on a table and pull down her pants. A woman with light-blue tinted skin came in and introduced herself as Hurricane. She put some sort of jelly on Katniss' stomach and focused on the screen in front of her. 'And here is the baby's head, and that's an arm… a leg and here's the crotch. Are you sure you want to know what it is?' she asked no one in particular, not taking her eyes off the screen 'yes.' Prim said, before anyone else cold answer. I took Katniss' hand and pressed it against my lips; she turned her head to me and smiled, then turned her head back.

I knew Katniss would want a boy, with my hair and eyes, but her _fire. _She had told me about dreams of our little boy in the games and even before that. That was when I knew she loved me, even though she still hasn't said it. She would whisper my name in her sleep, and when she had nightmares, I was the only one who could comfort her. But I wanted a girl, with Katniss' long dark hair and dark eyes, who could bake and hunt, was calm and collected but so capable in arguments that no one would start one with her anyway. I wanted a girl.

'And the baby is… oh, er well, the baby is… I'll just go and get the doctor, please excuse me' the woman left, then returned. She was just within earshot for the last part of the conversation which was 'has anencephaly'. Primrose gasped so as soon as the doctor walked in, Katniss grabbed his wrist and demanded 'what's wrong with my baby?' he looked down at her 'now, there's nothing wrong, we just need to take a better look at it' she was listening carefully to every word and nodded, trying her best to relax again. She looked at me and I tried my best to muster a smile.

The Doctor rooted around for a while, checking and re-checking the scanner and the baby, making sure he got everything absolutely correct. Finally he turned to us, smiling. 'Everything is perfectly fine with her; the nurse just thought there was something wrong because there was a darker patch where the head should be, but that's just because you're already locked and loaded!'

After that we returned to our apartment and Katniss asked me to cook for her, but before she could sit down she suddenly said 'we never found out what it is!' Prim and I chuckled 'yes he did, you just weren't listening, silly' Katniss shook her head, but sat down anyway 'he said 'everything is perfectly fine with _her'!' _Prim told her. Katniss looked up at me, unsure whether to believe her or not 'it's true, sweet' I told her and her eyes immediately began to fill with tears. 'Hey, don't cry. We're having a girl! Now I know you wanted a boy but we can always try again and again until we get a boy. Or who knows, the capitol may have some fancy new thing out where you can chose if you get a boy or a girl, and that would be cool. Ok? So no crying sweetie, crying isn't allowed.' She sniffed and looked up at me, I pulled her up into a hug and then she waddled off into the bedroom.

I decided to cook a cake. Our apartment was the only one fitted with a kitchen; our apartment was like a bungalow. They had to give the best to their Mockingjay and the boy with the bread, no one would have it any other way. Her mother, Primrose and Buttercup got the room opposite ours; it was nice, but not as good as ours. And so far, Prim hadn't even bothered to check it out and seemed pretty comfortable with the guest room, which was going to be the baby's room once it was here, but they can always find a way to add another room on. I like having Prim here anyway, it seems to have clamed Katniss slightly, knowing that she's alive and having her here with us. Besides, she can tell me what herbs will taste good in my cooking.

The next morning I woke up to find Katniss sitting at the table, with half the cake missing. She saw me, looked down at the cake then- through all the cake already in her mouth said 'I didn't eat that' spewing crumbs everywhere. I smiled, brushing most of the crumbs from the table into my hand 'It's okay, you're eating for two anyway.' Prim came out of her room, in pyjamas which looked a little too big for her, they must have been Katniss'. 'Cake for breakfast?' she asked, perking up when she saw her sister stuffing her face 'nope, all for me!' Katniss said through another mouthful, picking up the plate and trying to run across the room so Primrose couldn't get any. 'Hey, that's not fair!' Prim said, sticking out her bottom lip and crossing her arms 'Prim, come over here and we can make cupcakes just for us, and ours will still be warm so they will be better' I said, winking at her.

Half way through helping her bake the cakes, I caught Katniss' eye, she was smiling at both of us, but stopped as soon as she realised I was watching her, and she went back to finishing off what was left of the cake.


End file.
